小花轮钟草 xiao hua lun zhong cao

Codonopsis parviflora Wallich ex A. Candolle, Monogr. Campan. 123. 1830; Campanula punduana D. Dietrich; Campanumoea parviflora (Wallich ex A. Candolle) Bentham ex C. B. Clarke.

Herbs, (perennial or annual?), erect, 1-2 m tall. Stems terete, branched, glabrous. Leaves shortly petiolate; petiole up to 6 mm; blade abaxially somewhat glaucous, lanceolate, 5-11 × 1.5-3 cm, those on branches smaller, both surfaces glabrous, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin serrate, teeth apiculate at apex, blade apex acuminate. Flowers terminal, often in a dichasium of 3; pedicels 1-4 cm, glabrous, with or without a pair of leaflike or linear bracteoles. Calyx entirely free from ovary, and thus hypogynous, just below ovary or 1-4 mm distant from ovary, forming an anthophore; lobes usually 4, free from each other, linear, 3.5-8 mm, with 1-4 pairs of teeth. Corolla white, lobes equaling tube in length, 5-8 mm. Stamens 4; filaments subulate. Ovary globose or obovoid, 4-locular; stigma 4-fid. Fruit a globose berry, 4-6 mm. Seeds extremely numerous, light brown, orbicular or circular, compressed, reticulate. Fl. and fr. Sep-Jan.

Thickets, herb communities; below 1500 m. S and SW Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, NE India (Assam, Sikkim), Laos, Myanmar].